Molino San Juan Hacienda

Cayambe, Ecuador

Molino San Juan Hacienda, in Cayambe, is built within the property that was called Hacienda la Compañía and is owned by descendants (eighth generation) of the Jarrin family who are the owners of what was the Hacienda la Compañía.

The lodging at San Juan Molino Hacienda is built in the converted barn of the hacienda.

Dining is available in the lovely outside garden setting.

You can dine inside, or beside the fireplace.

Lodging at San Juan Molino Hacienda in the converted barn.

This was the original trail from Cayambe to Quito.

The Chapel

The current owner’s wife and mother in law designed and painted these frescoes in the chapel. Santa Mariana de Jesús, born Mariana de Paredes Flores Granobles y Jaramillo, who was the first saint of Ecuador, was orphaned and raised on the Granoble hacienda close by, was said to have wandered these grounds, and prayed in this chapel.

The mill: At the end of the 1800’s a visionary and industrialist by the name of Aquilles Jarrin Espinosa, initiated an important project to install a large hydraulic mill in this northern part of Ecuador. After an exhaustive analysis of different designs, the mill was designed and custom made by Cusson of France.
The first part of the negotiations involved the trading of a diamond ring for the mill’s turbine engine in France. The mill was shipped by sea in separate pieces to the port of Guyaquil The pieces were then transported by mule over the Andes Mountains to Cayambe. And then they were reassembled to form the mill that exists today.

San Juan Mill or La Compania Mill was actually part of a hacienda of the same name. Descendents of “Don Aquilles” took it upon themselves to restore and convert the structure into the first restaurant/museum situated in a mill in Ecuador.

The mill consisted of gears and pulleys which were powered by the nearby river. The purpose of the mill was to grind cereal grains, and this continued up until the middle of the 20th century. Most of the production was sold locally although part was exported to Colombia. Advancing technology finally overtook the mill’s system making it obsolete. Turbines, millstones, strainers, and the pulley system have been incorporated into the decorative elements and structure of the restaurant.